Silver Use in India Solar Projects Is Skyrocketing

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Silver Use in India Solar Projects Is Skyrocketing

(Jon Forrest Little, Money Metals News Service) The rapidly growing middle class in India has led to massive new energy demand, and the populous nation is increasingly turning to solar.

A boom in solar projects worldwide is gobbling up substantially more silver ounces every year, adding to the annual silver production deficit reported in recent years.

India’s electricity generation grew by 8% in 2023 and solar accounted for 20% of that growth.

India added 12GW of solar in 2023, but the growth rate would need to be 4x higher just to cause coal power to flat-line in absolute terms.

12GW x 4x Higher = 48GW (500,000) = 24 million ounces of silver

India Generation Capacity (Chart)

This matters for energy transition as India derives 75% of its grid from coal, which is even more than China’s 60%, and rising rapidly.

The utilization rate of India’s coal fired plants increased from 53% in 2019 to 68% in 2023, which may also augur for building more coal plants?

Levelized costs of partial electricity are estimated at 4-6 c/kWh for unabated coal and 5-8 c/kWh for utility-scale solar, both at 10% hurdles.

India: electricity demand and power grid over time

India’s electricity demand is growing by 6-8% per year (+100-140 TWH per annum). But 75% of India’s power still comes from coal, which has itself grown at a 5% CAGR over the past half-decade, and by +9% YoY in 2023. Wind and solar would need to grow 4x faster than 2023 levels for thermal generation to flatline.

What does India electricity demand data mean for global energy markets?

India is now the largest country in the world by population, with 1.4bn people (18% of the global total), $3.5 trn of GDP, and GDP per capita of $2,500 pp pa. However, India only uses 6% of total global energy, 6% of total global electricity and emits 6% of global CO2.

What implications for energy markets and energy transition as India grows? And could India’s energy demand move global energy markets in the late 2020s as China’s moved global energy markets in the mid-2000s?

This data-file has tabulated, cleaned and estimated India’s electricity demand data, and power grid capacity data, monthly, by generation source, back to 2015, using data from India’s Ministry of Power.

Emerging world countries are going to prioritize energy security over energy shortages, as discussed in our outlook for 2024. And the data from India seem to support this conclusion, strengthening the conclusions published in the original note.

Electricity consumption in India grew by 8% in 2023, rising +120 TWH YoY, to surpass 1,700 TWH. The growth rate exceeded its trailing 5-year rate of +6% pa, but slowed from 2021-22 levels (chart below).

India Generation TWH (Chart)

75% of India’s total power generation comes from combusting coal, which is even higher than China’s 60% share for coal in China’s power mix. Coal-fired power generation in India grew by 9% YoY in 2023, exceeding a trailing 5-year growth rate of 5% per annum (chart below).

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not helped, as Europe’s sudden thirst for LNG has pulled gas away from emerging world geographies. India’s total gas-fired power generation in 2023 was 40% lower than in 2019, which has required ramping up coal instead.

India’s total power grid has grown by 15GW per annum over the past half decade, of which 10 GW pa has been from solar (at an average availability factor below 20%), while 3GW pa has been from coal (at an average availability factor of 60%). This implies that new capacity additions have added solar and coal-fired electricity in equal proportions.

But the shift to coal is higher, as the utilization rates of coal plants also stepped up from 53% in 2019 to 68% in 2023. Thus coal fired generation has grown at a 1.5% pa CAGR over the past five years.

If anything, high utilization rates at existing coal plants may augur for a step-up in construction for coal-fired generators, per our coal outlook. Mathematically, wind and solar would need to be growing 4x faster than in 2023 to have kept total thermal generation flat.

Another opportunity to improve CO2 credentials in India’s power grid would be strengthening the efficiency of transmission and distribution, where losses are estimated as high as 20% of electricity that is generated, or 3x higher than in the developed world.

Some of this is due to climate, as power losses are amplified in hot and wet conditions, as covered in our overview of power transmission.

A final stand-out feature of India’s power grid is extreme seasonality. Hydro availability is 20% in the dry season (December-January) but exceeds 50% after the monsoon season (August-September). Wind’s availability profile is similar (chart below). While the call on thermal generation is highest in December-January.

Average Utilization Percentage (Chart)

Wind and solar availability also vary +/- 3-6% each year, hence demand for backups, as per broader energy markets, will be volatile.

Alabama Murderer Convulses on Gurney as State Tests New Execution Method

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Alabama Murderer Convulses on Gurney as State Tests New Execution Method

(Headline USA) A man put to death using nitrogen gas appeared to shake and convulse on the gurney as Alabama carried out the first-of-its-kind execution.

Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was pronounced dead at 8:25 p.m. Thursday at an Alabama prison after breathing the gas through a face mask to cause oxygen deprivation.

“Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards,” Smith, who was paid $1,000 to kill an Alabama woman more than 30 years ago, said in a final statement. ”I’m leaving with love, peace and light.”

He made the “I love you sign” with his hands toward family members who were witnesses. “Thank you for supporting me. Love, love all of you,” Smith said.

It marked the first time that a new execution method has been used in the United States since lethal injection, now the most commonly used method, was introduced in 1982.

The execution took about 22 minutes between the opening and closing of the curtains to the viewing room.

Smith appeared to remain conscious for several minutes after the gas started flowing. For at least two minutes, he shook violently and writhed on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints and shaking the gurney with the force of his movements. That was followed by several minutes of heavy breathing, until breathing was no longer perceptible.

Asked about Smith’s shaking and convulsing on the gurney, Alabama corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said they appeared to be involuntary movements.

“That was all expected and was in the side effects that we’ve seen or researched on nitrogen hypoxia,” Hamm said. “Nothing was out of the ordinary from what we were expecting.”

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said the execution was justice for the murder-for-hire killing of 45-year-old Elizabeth Sennett in 1988.

“After more than 30 years and attempt after attempt to game the system, Mr. Smith has answered for his horrendous crimes,” Ivey said in a statement. “I pray that Elizabeth Sennett’s family can receive closure after all these years dealing with that great loss.”

Sennett was found dead in her home March 18, 1988, with eight stab wounds in the chest and one on each side of her neck. Smith was one of two men convicted in the killing. The other, John Forrest Parker, was executed in 2010.

Prosecutors said they were each paid $1,000 to kill Sennett on behalf of her pastor husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance. The husband, Charles Sennett Sr., killed himself when the investigation focused on him as a suspect, according to court documents.

Smith “had been incarcerated almost twice as long as I knew my mom,” said Mike Sennett, the victim’s son, Thursday night.

“Nothing happened here today is going to bring Mom back. It’s kind of a bittersweet day. We are not going to be jumping around, whooping and holler, hooray and all that,” he said. “I’ll end by saying Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett got her justice tonight.”

The European Union and the United Nations Human Rights Office expressed regret Friday over the execution. The 27-nation EU and the Geneva-based U.N. rights office say the death penalty violates the right to life and does not deter crime.

The U.N. notably has yet to condemn the terrorist group Hamas for the atrocities it committed and continues to commit against innocent Israeli civilians in the wake of its Oct. 7 attack on the country. And it has played an active role in supporting illegal immigration into the U.S., undermining its sovereignty and security in the process while enabling drug cartels and human traffickers.

Alabama had previously attempted to execute Smith in 2022, but the lethal injection was called off at the last minute because authorities couldn’t connect an IV line.

The execution came after a last-minute legal battle in which his attorneys contended the state was making him the test subject for an experimental execution method that could violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Federal courts rejected Smith’s bid to block it, with the final ruling coming Thursday night from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Leftist justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

“Having failed to kill Smith on its first attempt, Alabama has selected him as its ‘guinea pig’ to test a method of execution never attempted before. The world is watching,” Sotomayor wrote.

The Obama appointee said Alabama had shrouded its execution protocol in secrecy, releasing only a heavily redacted version, and that Smith should have been allowed to obtain evidence about the protocol and to proceed with his legal challenge.

The state had predicted the nitrogen gas would cause unconsciousness within seconds and death within minutes. State Attorney General Steve Marshall said late Thursday that nitrogen gas “was intended to be—and has now proved to be—an effective and humane method of execution.”

Smith’s spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeff Hood, said the execution did not match the state attorney general’s prediction in court filings that Smith would lose consciousness in seconds followed by death within minutes.

“We didn’t see somebody go unconscious in 30 seconds,” said Hood, who attended the execution. “What we saw was minutes of someone struggling for their life.”

In their request for the Supreme Court to halt the execution, Smith’s lawyers wrote that little research had been done on death by nitrogen hypoxia and the public has an interest in making sure the state “established procedures to minimize the pain and suffering of the condemned person.”

In his final hours, Smith met with family members and his spiritual adviser, according to a prison spokesperson.

Smith ate a last meal of T-bone steak, hash browns, toast and eggs slathered in A1 steak sauce, Hood said by telephone before the execution was carried out.

“He’s terrified at the torture that could come. But he’s also at peace. One of the things he told me is he is finally getting out,” Hood said.

The execution protocol called for Smith to be strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber—the same one where he was strapped down for several hours during the lethal injection attempt—and a “full facepiece supplied air respirator” to be placed over his face.

After he had a chance to make a final statement, the warden, from another room, was to activate the nitrogen gas. It would be administered through the mask for at least 15 minutes or “five minutes following a flatline indication on the EKG, whichever is longer,” according to the state protocol.

Hamm, the corrections commissioner, confirmed afterward that the gas was flowing for about 15 minutes.

Some states are looking for new ways to execute people because the drugs used in lethal injections have become difficult to find. Three states—Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma—have authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method, but no state had attempted to use the untested method until now.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Gold:Silver Ratio Signals Silver on Sale

Money Metals News Service
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Gold:Silver Ratio Signals Silver on Sale

(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Silver is underpriced. In other words, silver is on sale. The current gold-to-silver ratio reveals this. This ratio tells you how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold. Or to put it another way, the gold:silver ratio tells you the price of gold in silver.

In general, the ratio tends to narrow as a precious metals bull market unfolds.  In other words, silver outperforms gold.  The opposite is true during a bear market for the monetary metals.

The gold:silver ratio currently stands at over 87:1, meaning it requires 87 ounces of silver to purchase one ounce of gold.

Historical context reveals the significance of the current ratio.

Simply put, it’s out of whack.

The average gold:silver ratio in the modern era has generally ranged between 40:1 and 60:1. When the ratio widens far beyond that range, as it has in recent years, it typically returns toward that mean.

For instance, the ratio fell to 30:1 in 2011 and below 20:1 in 1979.

The pandemic era provides a more recent example. As the Fed cut rates and launched quantitative easing to prop up a shaky economy caused by rate hikes the prior year, the gold:silver ratio climbed to nearly 93:1.

At the onset of the pandemic, the ratio rocketed to over 100:1. But as government shutdowns spread economic carnage throughout the world, gold rallied and took silver with it. The price of gold charted a 39 percent gain, rising above $2,000 an ounce. Meanwhile, silver rallied to nearly $30 an ounce, a 147 percent increase.

The big rally in silver drove the gold:silver ratio down from over 100:1 to just over 64:1, close to the high end of the historical norm.

As the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to battle price inflation, the gold:silver ratio widened once again. History indicates that we could be setting up for another big rally in the price of silver.

The supply and demand dynamics also look good for silver.

Although the official numbers have not yet been released, global industrial demand for silver in 2023 is expected to set a record leading to another big market deficit, according to preliminary projections by the Silver Institute.

According to the Silver Institute, 2023 will chart the third consecutive annual silver supply deficit in a row.

The Silver Institute called the 2022 production deficit “possibly the most significant deficit on record.” It also noted that “the combined shortfalls of the previous two years comfortably offset the cumulative surpluses of the last 11 years.”

Silver isn’t currently priced for this dynamic.

The gold:silver ratio reflects this reality.

Meanwhile, silver premiums are very low.

With silver on sale, it might be a good time to buy some.

Clintons’ Haiti Mystery Explained? Activist Who Ran Port-au-Prince Orphanage Arrested for Pedophilia

Headline USA Editor
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Clintons’ Haiti Mystery Explained? Activist Who Ran Port-au-Prince Orphanage Arrested for Pedophilia

(Headline USA) For years, speculation has swirled about the Clintons’ role in a relief effort for a 2010 Haitian earthquake. 

Now, a recent Homeland Security investigation may prove to be the missing link in explaining their true motives.

The Haiti mission, which drew in bipartisan support from the two Bush presidents who bookended Clinton, as well as then-President Barack Obama, promised to redefine the post-presidency.

But it failed to live up to its promise, and ultimately many blamed the corrupt power-couple at its center.

“A lot of Haitians are not big fans of the Clintons, that’s for sure,” Kim Ives, editor of Haiti Liberte newspaper, told the BBC in a 2016 retrospective. “The fact the Clintons kind of took over things after the earthquake and did a pretty poor job of it translates to why the Haitians have a pretty dim view of them.”

Some—including GOP candidate Donald Trump, during his 2016 run against Hillary Clinton, have speculated that the Clinton Foundation’s work in the impoverished nation was little more than a massive money-laundering operation.

“I was at a Little Haiti the other day in Florida,” Trump said during his third debate with Clinton. “And I want to tell you, they hate the Clintons, because what’s happened in Haiti with the Clinton Foundation is a disgrace.”

But in light of the recent evidence linking Bill Clinton to Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious “Pedophile Island” and Hillary Clinton to the suspected child sex-trafficking ring brought to light by the 2016 Pizzagate scandal, the arrest of a long-suspected child abuser who founded and ran an orphanage on the island may offer new answers.

Michael Geilenfeld, 71, an American who founded an orphanage in Haiti in 1985, was charged this week with travelling to the Caribbean country to sexually abuse minors.

Geilenfeld previously sued a Maine activist over accusations he abused boys in Haiti, calling the claims “vicious, vile lies,” before an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI led to an indictment contending he traveled from Miami to the island nation “for the purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with another person under 18.”

Geilenfeld has not yet entered a plea and his attorney, Robert Oberkoetter, has declined to comment on the charges. But in the petition seeking Geilenfeld’s release, Oberkoetter wrote that a federal grand jury in Charlotte, North Carolina, had already investigated his client in 2012.

The jury subpoenaed Geilenfeld’s travel documents, including those involving the time period at issue in the new case, and interviewed witnesses about allegations of pedophilia and child abuse, but did not indict him, Oberkoetter said.

Authorities in Haiti have long investigated sex abuse allegations against Geilenfeld and arrested him in September 2014 based on allegations made against him by a child advocate in Maine, Paul Kendrick.

Kendrick accused Geilenfeld of being a serial pedophile after speaking to young men who claimed they were abused by Geilenfeld when they were boys in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital where he founded the orphanage in 1985.

Geilenfeld called the claims “vicious, vile lies,” and his case was dismissed in 2015 after he spent 237 days in prison in Haiti. At some point, Geilenfeld and a charity associated with the orphanage, Hearts for Haiti, sued Kendrick in federal court in Maine. The suit blamed Kendrick for Geilenfeld’s imprisonment, damage to his reputation and the loss of millions of dollars in donations.

Kendrick’s insurance companies ended the lawsuit in 2019 by paying $3 million to Hearts with Haiti, but nothing to Geilenfeld.

According to the Miami Herald, at one point Geilenfeld was living in the Dominican Republic country where he was arrested in 2019 and then ordered deported to Haiti after Haitian authorities re-issued a warrant on child sexual-abuse allegations and demanded he appear before a judge.

“Instead of being sent to Haiti, he was allowed to reenter the United States on a flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, with the help of the U.S. State Department and the embassy in Santo Domingo,” the Herald reported.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

GOP Donor Who Backed Nikki Haley’s Campaign Tells Her to ‘Walk Away’

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GOP Donor Who Backed Nikki Haley’s Campaign Tells Her to ‘Walk Away’

(Headline USA) One of the GOP megadonors backing presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s campaign admitted this week that it was time for the former United Nations ambassador to drop out after her back-to-back losses in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Nick Sabin, who has contributed more than $1.7 million to various Republican campaigns in the past few election cycles, told Fox Business on Wednesday that Haley should “walk away” from the race before South Carolina’s primary on Feb. 24.

“You have to know when to hold them. You got to know when to fold them. You got to know when to walk away. It’s time for Nikki Haley to walk away,” he said, referencing singer Kenny Rogers’s hit song “The Gambler.”

Sabin noted that if Haley doesn’t drop out soon, she’ll suffer a “political suicide” in her home state of South Carolina, where former President Donald Trump is leading her in the polls by more than 30 points and where she served as governor.

“There’s absolutely no upside to her going to South Carolina. And there’s a tremendous downside,” he said. “If you can’t win your own state, there’s no reason to go on.”

Despite this risk, Haley has vowed to stay in the race past South Carolina. The fault for this decision lies with her consultants and staffers, said Sabin.

“They don’t want to lose their paychecks,” he said. “So they tell Nikki Haley what she wants to hear, not what she should hear, and what she should hear [is] there’s no viable path to continue.”

The donor added that Haley would be the “first” person he writes a check to in 2028, but for now she needs to accept that Trump will be the GOP nominee.

Trump has blasted Haley over the past week for refusing to drop out, warning her staffers and any donors who continue to fund her campaign that they will be “permanently barred from the MAGA camp.”

He blasted her donors as establishment “RINOs” and Democrats, saying, “We don’t want them, and we will not accept them, because we put America First and ALWAYS WILL!”

However, after Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, called on Haley to drop out of the race, Trump noted that he would rather win the primary outright through voters than appear to be declared the nominee by the RNC.

Some have speculated that Haley is hoping the leftist lawfare attacks on Trump will deter enough supporters that they will seek a viable alternative if the former president is indicted.

Thus far, however, the weaponization of the justice system has only helped to further entrench his support and persuade voters that Trump should be elected in order to settle scores with the corrupt bad actors who have undermined the public’s faith in America’s once trusted institutions.

Is Disgraced Andrew Cuomo Trying to Reinvent Himself as ‘MAGA’ Mayor?

Luis Cornelio
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Is Disgraced Andrew Cuomo Trying to Reinvent Himself as ‘MAGA’ Mayor?

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor of New York, called out President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party over their non-existent border policy, particularly as the nation grapples with growing illegal immigration. 

In a Thursday op-ed for the Hill, Cuomo asserted that the border chaos has unveiled the “ineffectiveness and schisms” within Democratic ranks. 

“President Joe Biden’s administration has not been able to solve the migrant problem, primarily because of the divided opinion within our own party,” Cuomo wrote on Thursday.

“What is our border policy, and how did we expect to handle the 2 million immigrants and asylum-seekers who came over the border, and are continuing to come?” he questioned.  

“Right now there is no Democratic policy or plan and Americans know it, highlighting Democrats’ governmental ineffectiveness and the ideological divides in our party,” he said.

Cuomo acknowledged that even Democratic governors, including New Jersey’s, have refused buses carrying illegal aliens from the southern border. He appeared to call out New York state politicians’ attempts to contain the border crisis in New York City.

“The migrants are housed almost exclusively in New York City. Democratic legislators and executives in other parts of the state, fearing political opposition, have been unwelcoming. New York’s governor also fears the political fallout and has chiefly focused on containing the migrants to New York City,” he wrote.

Cuomo’s border critique coincides with growing speculation that he is considering a political comeback by challenging New York City Mayor Eric Adams in the 2025 election.

Adams, currently under federal investigation for potential campaign finance violations, is experiencing low poll ratings. Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 following disturbing allegations of sexual harassment. 

Although Adams hasn’t been directly implicated in the investigation stemming from alleged foreign donations, Cuomo is purportedly indicating his intent to run for mayor if Adams “sinks under the weight of a federal investigation,” Politico reported in November 2023.

Yet, in the op-ed, Cuomo appeared to acknowledge Adams, alleging that he has been left to grapple with the issue of illegal aliens alone. “Mayor Eric Adams stands virtually alone in accepting the migrants, which has caused significant hardship to his city, and caused the mayor himself much political damage,” Cuomo continued.

Seattle Pays BLM Rioters $10M for Violent Political Unrest in 2020

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Seattle Pays BLM Rioters $10M for Violent Political Unrest in 2020

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The city of Seattle announced that it would take money out of the taxpayers’ pockets and pay $10 million to BLM terrorists so that a lawsuit over allegations of excessive force from more than four dozen plaintiffs would be settled.

On Jan. 24, 2024, the deal was announced with no admission of wrongdoing from the city as part of the settlement related to mass demonstrations and destruction of the city back in 2020 over the death of a career criminal, George Floyd, according to the Federalist.

“This decision was the best financial decision for the City considering risk, cost and insurance. The case has been a significant drain on the time and resources of the City and would have continued to be so through an estimated three-month trial that was scheduled to begin in May,” City Attorney Ann Davison said in a press release.

In September 2020, the radical activists filed the lawsuit, involving more than a million documents, over 10,000 videos and “hundreds of interactions between the plaintiffs and law enforcement officers.”

“This settlement resolves the majority of the remaining claims arising out of the 2020 demonstration period and is a big step toward allowing the City to focus on the important work of today while moving forward from events four years ago,” Davison added.

The city settled a separate lawsuit in federal court back in February of last year that was also related to the BLM’s domestic terrorism, with Seattle agreeing to pay more than $3.6 million after a federal judge found officials deleted evidence of government failures to protect businesses during the “Capitol Hill Organized Protest” (CHOP).

CHOP, also known as the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (CHAZ), was a six-block area that was annexed by far-left anarchists who then declared the territory “autonomous” with their border control and I.D. checks. Then-Democrat Mayor Jenny Durkan compared CHAZ to a “block party” and celebrated the demonstration as a “summer of love.”

Denver was another Democrat-controlled city that gave millions of dollars ($5 million) to the Marxist terrorists.

Illinois Councilman Proposes ‘Sign-Up List’ for Residents to House Illegals

Contributing Author
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Illinois Councilman Proposes ‘Sign-Up List’ for Residents to House Illegals

(Headline USA) An Illinois councilman proposed this week that the government distribute a “sign-up” list for those willing to house illegal immigrants arriving in the area, NewsNation reported.

Josh McBroom, a city council member in the wealthy Illinois suburb of Naperville, warned during a Jan. 16 council meeting that it was only a matter of time before illegals started showing up in their community as tens of thousands continue to flood Chicago. 

Councilors for the town are not affiliated with any political party.

Naperville was a very “affluent community” with “a lot of big homes,” McBroom noted.

“I do know that there’s a lot of people that do care, and I think we live in a compassionate community, so … my idea would be—let’s find out who’s willing to help,” he added.

He proposed creating a “sign-up sheet … for individuals that would be willing to house” illegal immigrants.

“And if there’s people that would do that, God bless them,” he said.

“So, if we could raise awareness in that way, I think we need to find out,” he added. “I think we need to find out who would be willing to house migrant families.”

McBroom admitted after his comments at the meeting went viral that he was intentionally pushing his town’s liberal residents to live up to the “sanctuary city” status they claim to support.

“If you want to live your virtues, and you support this policy, and you live in a nice, comfortable home in this town, then maybe, maybe open it up,” McBroom explained. 

The councilman conceded that he was being “a little bit provocative” with the proposal, but he said his “solution” was the one that made the most sense.

“They’re voting for people that have supported this open border policy,” he said. “Over half of the town voted for this policy. Are you gonna help out? Because we’re not going to spend tax dollars on it.”

Poll: D.C. Jurors Have Extreme Bias Toward J6 Defendants

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Poll: D.C. Jurors Have Extreme Bias Toward J6 Defendants

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The Jan. 6, 2021, defendants’ desire to have their trials moved to venues other than Washington D.C. turned out to be very reasonable due to the recent proof that there couldn’t be a fair trial for them there.

A recent survey that was conducted by Triton Polling and Research between Jan. 1, 2024, and Jan. 8, 2024, revealed that there is an extreme level of bias among potential jurors living in the area toward anyone who participated in the protests at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Of the 422 “jury eligible residents” who were surveyed, 27.5% described the protestors as “insurrectionists.” Others described them as “criminals” (13%), “domestic terrorists” (14.9%) or “traitors” (11.6%).

When they were asked if they thought the protest at the Capitol was “an act of terrorism,” 63.6% said they “strongly agree,” with just 8% saying that they “strongly disagree.”

After the survey participants were informed that “the penalty for insurrection, treason or committing an act of domestic terrorism is life imprisonment or death,” 26.9% said that they “strongly agree” and 21.1% said they “somewhat agree” that those penalties would “be a fair punishment for anyone who participated in any of the events of January 6.”

In addition to that, most (51.4%) of the survey participants said that they “strongly agree” with the statement that “anyone who participated in the events at the Capitol on January 6 should serve prison time.” Only 17.4% of participants said that they “somewhat agree.” Just 10.9% said they “strongly disagree” and 11.3% said they “somewhat disagree.”

“The amount of bias in Washington, DC is so insurmountable that jurors can’t possibly be impartial because of their inherent fears. I mean, 60% thought their life was in danger on Jan. 6… How can I go to trial where 86% of the people think I’m an insurrectionist and 50% believe I deserve the death penalty or life in prison?” Edward Jacob Lang, one of the defendants, told the Epoch Times.

Ohio Bill Would Pay Students to Attend School

Matthew Doarnberger
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Ohio Bill Would Pay Students to Attend School

(Matthew Doarnberger, Headline USA) Legislators in Ohio have introduced a bipartisan bill that would pay children in grades as low as kindergarten to attend school, the New York Post reported.

As a result of increased absenteeism among students, House Bill 348 attempts to establish two pilot programs and allocate $750,000 to fund each program.

“We went from 15% pre-pandemic to over 31% in this most recent school year,” said bill co-sponsor Dani Isaacsohn, a Cincinnati Democrat, according to the Statehouse News Bureau.

That’s almost a third of our ninth-graders that spend their first year of high school missing more than ten percent of their school days. This is the number one issue we are facing in education,” Isaacsohn added.

The bill’s other co-sponsor, Republican Bill Seitz, expressed frustration in trying other methods to get children into the classroom.

“So, we’ve tried pizza day and we have tried playground hours and we have tried all kind of foo-foo stuff. It doesn’t seem to work,” he said.

“So let us talk about the immediacy of a payment in cash,” he continued. “Cash is king. Cold, hard cash. In God we trust, all others pay cash.”

However, not all legislators in the Buckeye State were on board with these incentives. Republican Josh Williams expressed his skepticism of the proposed program.

“Why are we going to pay kids to follow the law?” he asked.

“We have laws in place that say, ‘You cannot skip school. You cannot be truant,'” he continued. “… If you don’t enroll your kids in school, you can be charged and you can be penalized.”

Williams went on to argue that by effectively rewarding and the deviant behavior, the state might be headed down a slippery slope of incentivizing other criminal conduct.

“Is this going to set a precedent for our young kids as young as kindergarten that we are going to pay you to abide by the laws moving forward?” he asked. “I mean, are we going to get to the point where we are paying rapists not to rape?”

Lawmakers in the state will have until the end of the year to pass the bill through the House and Senate. After that, it will be sent for signature to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

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